China Cu smelting capacity up 20% in 2011: Antaike

摘要

China’s national refined copper smelting ncapacity is expected to hit 7.13 million mtyear by the end of December, up almost n20% from 5.98 million mt/year by the end nof last year, state-run metals consultancy, nBeijing Antaike, said Tuesday. The expan-nsion in capacity will include both new pro-nduction capacity and existing plant capacity that has been idle. The Beijing-based com-npany also predicts that China will add more nthan 1 million mt/year of refined copper nsmelting capacity over 2012-2013. Copper ndemand is expected to be supported by nthe domestic power sector — a key con-nsumer — which uses copper cables, and ndemand from that sector is expected to nrise further in the next couple of years. n“The recent past few years were the peak nconstruction period, resulting in their ngradual completion in the next two years,” nsaid a commodity analyst with Antaike. nBut he did not rule out the possibility that nChina’s expanding copper smelting capac-nity has had an impact on Chinese copper nsmelters’ treatment and refining charges nin November, which were down more than n50% from the previous month.